No area restaurant has been recommended to me more often than Tara Kitchen in Schenectady. The diminutive Moroccan eatery has long had a committed fan base that first buoyed it from farmers markets into bricks-and-mortar. It also sustains business with the addition of cooking classes and a line of traditional (and trending) North African condiments, from fiery harissa to preserved lemons.

Five years on, the husband-and-wife owners, Aneesa Waheed and Muntasim Shoaib, have brought Tara Kitchen to Troy, finding a home in the former Infinity Café, (the old Nelicks' furniture store), proving the tentacle reach of Troy gentrification on the last block before the exit ramp out of downtown Troy.

Waheed and Shoaib have poured paint and love into the project. Every inch, from the maroon popcorn ceiling tiles to arabesque stencils, has been painted. Silvery plant holders dot one wall, an arrangement of jarred sauces interrupts another; shimmery fabrics cap storage shelves laden with kitchen supplies; Moroccan lanterns dangle from the ceiling, and a metal silhouette of goats climbing the branches of an argan tree — an iconic Moroccan scene — is a focal point.

It's not quite transformative. The utilitarian lines of the former diner are still clear and, despite full tables, the room feels sparse. Unfinished particleboard tables were perplexing until Waheed explained drapes and Bedouin-style swagged ceiling fabric will soon soften acoustics, and white oak tables inlaid with zinc are being custom-made.

Price ratings for inexpensive eateries based on average of entrée costs:

$: $9.95 and less

$$: $9.95-$15.95

$$$: $15.95 and higher

At the heart of Tara's dinner menu is the Moroccan tagine, stews slow cooked in traditional shallow-bottomed vessels with conical lids, also called tagines. Whether you peer through the storefront glass or sit framed behind the huge turquoise logo, you'll see a mob of cream-colored tagines steaming on the impressive, 12-burner range.

Moroccan cuisine is a powerful, multisensory feast, a blend of cultures, nomadic peoples and spice routes, of Berber tagine tradition touched by Spanish, Arab, desert Bedouin, Ottoman and French influence. Slow-simmered tagines explode with piquant flavors — the pestle-pounded 12 spices of ras-el-hanout, bitter salt-preserved lemons, fiery and pungent chile harissa. Fragrant and rich, spicy and sweet, tart and zesty, Moroccan condiments and sauces, like musical notes, are completely different when rearranged. And Tara's menu, overwhelming at first look, offers myriad suggestions and the chance to create your own.

It's worth noting that early customer fandom has driven much of Tara's menu. Indian-born Waheed, who met and married her Pakistani husband in Morocco, tapped into an unmet upstate appetite for North African flavors with an ethnic cuisine beloved by those with dietary restrictions when they introduced Moroccan dishes to their Indian market menu.

After four years of literal market research, Waheed's adaptation of authentic dishes creates "food that people want to eat" by giving American ingredients "Moroccan flair." Broccoli florets and carrots join prunes and pomegranate molasses; food writer Diana Henry, citing the cuisine's cultural history, says it's an adaptation she finds reasonable, because "authenticity does not have to mean rigidity, or cooking would never develop."

Though Waheed has perfected her ras-el-hanout spice over 10 years, couscous — the national dish central to any gathering or celebratory meal — is conspicuously absent from the dinner menu. Saucy tagines are typically mopped up with freshly baked bread, but the decision to serve warm pita and rice, an Indian touch, works better for her customers, particularly the gluten-free eaters.

Little shared plates arrive quickly, and we fold soft pita triangles to mop up a trio of $5 dips: creamy, garlic-tinged eggplant laced with tomato jam and ras-el-hanout has a wonderfully fragrant smokiness not unlike clove cigarettes; olive tapenade, redder than expected, is at once salty and tart from crushed violet and green olives and briny shredded artichoke; parsley chermoula is a pungent herb "pesto" zinging with sour lemon notes, fiercely pounded parsley, cumin seeds and enough crushed garlic to sear the tongue. The chermoula is a Moroccan workhorse, and later, after smothering chunks of white swai in a tagine ($21), the simmered fish is shot through with glorious flavors.

Usamah Mehr, Shoaib's nephew and the manager of Tara II, pours honey-sweetened Moroccan mint tea from the slim neck of a silver teapot, allowing bubbles to froth in the small glass. We content ourselves with descriptions of Moroccan wines on the menu and cross our fingers the liquor license comes through soon. After the prettiness of the tea, water served in plastic cups and the unavailability of sliced lemon when requested seem odd.

Tagine bases arrive still sputtering and couched in wicker nests. Slow-cooked, cumin-spiked lamb with chickpeas ($24) collapses into the rich chermoula and tomato jam sauce thickened with aquafaba, the sweet raisins and onions going some way to balance intense salt. Mine, chicken with almonds and harissa, is lighter and thinner, a fragrant sweet soup of pomegranate molasses and raisins with slivered almonds, onion and thick-cut preserved lemon. The breast meat is dry from cooking close to the base (tagines are often protectively lined with onion), and soupiness suggests too much water without time to reduce.

Waheed holds the fort in Schenectady and Josh Gabri runs the kitchen at Tara in Troy. Gabri, who traveled to Morocco with Waheed a few years back, trained alongside her for four months after leaving the kitchen at GE. There's overall mastery, but jarring problems suggest unfamiliarity with the potency of some ingredients. Preserved lemon cut too thickly is powerfully bitter; cured olives — whether brined or salted — release so much salt during cooking that adding more has to be carefully done; the beautifully sticky, gritty interiors of whole warm figs and cherry tomatoes drizzled in spicy harissa-honey vinaigrette ($6) fight off discordant sour ratios of preserved lemon and sweet prunes. If I'm wrong and it's a traditional composition, it's a hard one to sing.

Finally, a technical problem: There's no method of cleaning those little wicker nests. I stop my husband from eating a fallen piece of meat resting on the caked remains of a former tagine. He's a little skeeved out.

I go back to secure a plate of couscous at lunch, the only time the steaming plate of tiny semolina pearls is available, and it is as fluffy and savory as hoped, paired with tomato chermoula vegetable and raisin stew. ($14) We dive-bomb more eggplant dip and swoon over crisp kati lamb-stuffed rolls ($7) — arguably the perfect handheld snack. Pita pizza ($8), so glossy with squidgy roasted eggplant it looks alien, marries tomato jam, onions, sweet sliced prunes and honey in a mix so irresistible we're face deep. I finally fall in love. I'll be back to try lamb tagine with candied and fresh oranges, and though tagines are not available midday, this is an ideal spot for lunch.

Dinner for three — including three appetizers and three tagines — came to $111.88 with tax and 20 percent tip. Lunch for two — including dip, kati, couscous main and pizza — came to $43.72 with tax and 20 percent tip.

Susie Davidson Powell is a freelance writer from East Greenbush. Follow her on Twitter, @SusieDP. To comment on this review, visit the Table Hopping blog, blog.timesunion.com/tablehopping.